Bead package



M. R. SEABRQOKE 2,816,656

BEAD PACKAGE Original Filed March 25, 1955 5 H "Hil 1 MM 4| 1 m Fig-5 V IN V EN TOR.

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United States Patent BEAD PACKAGE Milton R. Seabrooke, Mars, Pa.

Original application March 25, 1955, Serial No. 496,785,

new Patent No. 2,765,900, dated October 9, 1956. Divided and this application August 13, 1956, Serial No. 603,741

1 Claim. (Cl. 206-65) My invention relates to a package unit and, more particularly, to a package of oriented ceramic beads of the so called ball and socket type, that is, tubular beads having a ball or convex portion at one end and a dished shape or concave portion at the other end, such as used for electrical insulation. The present application is a division of my patent application Serial No. 496,783, filed March 25, 1955, entitled Bead Orienting Device and Method, now Patent No. 2,765,900.

In the manufacture of tubular ceramic beads of the ball and socket type, such as used for electrical and instrument wiring insulation, it is necessary to align and arrange the beads in end to end relationship with the ball portion of one bead next to the socket portion of an adjoining bead. Beads are dumped in bulk into the bowl of a vibratory parts feeder, and are discharged therefrom in alignment at short intervals of time. By the law of averages, about half of them will have their convex ends pointing in one direction and the other half will have such ends pointing in an opposite direction. But it is necessary to rearrange the beads so that all convex ends will point in the same direction so as to enable the beads to be packaged in a tubular container and to be strung in readiness for use according to my invention.

While orienting devices are known in the art, none has been found suitable or practical for the orientation of ball and socket beads, particularly those of very small size, such as about in diameter and long. Such small sized beads have not been susceptible of orientation with known methods or devices and as the result it has been necessary to orient them by hand, which is exceedingly tedious and time consuming and which considerably increases their manufacturing cost.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel package unit, particularly suited for packaging ceramic beads.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel packaging method, particularly suited for packaging ceramic beads.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of an orienting device for orienting ball and socket type beads or other articles which are heavier on one end than at the other, and embodying the principles of my invention;

Figure 2 is a top or plan view of the device shown in Figure 1; Fig. 2a is a cross section taken along line 2a 2a of Fig. 2.

Figure 3 is an end view taken along line III-III of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a side View, with a part shown broken away, of a tubular ceramic bead of the ball and socket type, having one end convex shaped and the other, concave shaped;

Figure 5 is a bead package unit, with the cover shown partly broken away, including oriented beads of the type shown in Figure 4, assembled and packaged for use in industry; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the chute shown in Figures 1 and 2 but equipped with a modified form of orienting means involving the use of an air jet for spinning beads around if they are not facing the desired direction.

Referring more particularly to Figures 1 to 3 of the drawing, numeral 1 denotes a vibratory, parts feeder of well-known construction, such as that known in the trade as a Syntron parts feeder manufactured and sold by The Syntron Company of Homer City, Pennsylvania.

Such Syntron vibrator feeder comprises essentially a spring mounted bowl having a helical spiral ledge along the inner wall surface thereof, whereby parts dumped into the bowl will be fed upwardly along a helical spiral path as the result of slight rotary vibratory motion of the feeder. Such motion may be obtained as the result of half wave rectification of a 60 cycle alternating current source which will energize electromagnets and pro duce vibrations of 3,600 per minute on an inclined chute bolted securely to the bowl. The frequency and ampli tude of the vibrations may be varied to suit the particular size of the parts fed. Suffice it to say, for the purposes of the present invention, that the parts feeder 1 is a well-known device for discharging parts, such as beads of the ball and socket type, in quick succession, but not oriented, onto a chute 2 rigidly bolted to the parts feeder. Chute 2 is preferably made of metal, such as aluminum, having an angular cross section as shown more clearly in Figure 3. Chute 2 may be made from a flat bar of aluminum 1 /2" wide, 1" thick and (for .20" beads) about 24" long. As will be more apparent in Figure 3, chute 2 is preferably arranged so that one side thereof is at about an angle of 15 from the vertical, whereas the other side is at an angle of about from the vertical. The groove may be machined V-shape /2" deep at its apex. The angular disposition of chute 2 may be varied in some instances, depending upon the type of articles to be slid down the chute. The chute is roughly to times as long as the bead.

The upper end of chute 2 is provided with a machined surface and a tight fit with the parts feeder, which end is clamped thereto by a bolt 3 so as to vibrate in unison therewith. The discharge outlet 1b of parts feeder 1 is slightly higher than the apex of chute 2 by about 5 for beads of .20 in length. The drop will be slightly different for other sized beads or for other articles to be oriented.

Since in the manufacture of ceramic beads there usually develops a considerable quantity of small particles of broken beads or parts of ceramic material from which the beads are made, either as the result of careless handling, worn dies or broken beads, endless difficulty would be caused in orientation unless some satisfactory means is employed for disposing of such small particles. This problem has been solved by making a slot 2a along a portion of the apex of chute 2, for example, a slot .15" wide at the bottom and about 3 long along the chute and beginning about /2" from the receiving end of the chute. Thus particles of size smaller than .15, for example, will drop therethrough, whereas full sized beads of .20 in diameter will slide beyond the slot. A container (not shown) is positioned underneath the slot to receive the small or broken particles of ceramic.

The chute 2 is inclined with respect to the horizontal in the range of between about 0 and 30, preferably about 15 for beads of .20" diameter. The lower end of chute 2 is resiliently mounted on a table 4 by means of a threaded rod 7 rigidly secured to the lower end of the chute 2 by being threaded to an aluminum block 6 fastened to the chute by screw 5 and having a saddle portion machined out to provide the proper 90 angle to receive the triangular chute. Rod 7 is surrounded by a coil spring 8 having washers 9 at the ends thereof and a washer 10 adjacent an adjusting wing nut 11. Thus as the adjusting nut 11 is turned, the lower end of the chute may be adjustably lowered so as to cause greater compression of spring 8. For smaller beads, spring 8 is compressed to decrease the vibration intensity since smaller beads require less vibration than larger ones.

The parts feeder 1 is mounted on rubber mounts 1a which rest on table 4 and are not rigidly attached thereto in order to permit the parts feeder 1 to freely vibrate. About 1 inch away from the discharge outlet lb of the parts feeder bowl 1 there are disposed a plurality of roughened marks 13 which are formed on the substantially vertical flange of the chute 2. These roughened marks extend from the apex of the flange upwardly at right angles to the substantially horizontal flange for a height of about A along the substantially vertical flange. About 8 roughened marks or slight grooves spaced about .12" apart will suffice for beads of .20 diameter. The rest of the length of chute 2 is highly polished, a final polish being obtainable by jewelers rouge or the like.

The principle involved in orienting ball and socket beads involves the utilization of vibration as well as the unequal weight distribution of the bead itself. The bead being concave and therefore lighter at one end than the rounded or convex end, the tendency, when vibrated, is to rest on the heavier or weighted end. As the feeder bowl 1 vibrates the chute 2 firmly clamped thereto so as to discharge beads at spaced intervals, some heads discharged from bowl 1 will have their convex ends first, others will have their concave ends first as they enter the chute. However, as they slide down the chute and come in contact with the roughened marks 13, only the heavy end Will maintain contact with the chute and tend to be arrested by the marks, while the lighter or concave end will be free and will turn or flop over through an angle of 180 so that all the concave ends will face the discharge or lower end of the chute. As viewed from the top of the chute, as a leading convex (or heavier) end approaches and contacts the roughened marks 13, it is temporarily arrested thereby or retarded, therefore the bead will turn on the inner surface of the substantially horizontal flange of chute 2 in a counterclockwise direction and become properly oriented with the concave end facing the discharge or lower end of the chute because such concave end is kept raised from chute 2 due to vibration, and because of greater weight of the convex end, the latter remains in a substantially fixed position during this rotating motion as a consequence of the anchoring effect of roughened marks 13. Of course if the concave end were the leading end it, being free of the chute, will move past the roughened marks 13 and the later contact of the convex end with the roughened marks will merely retard but not turn the bead.

It should be noted that this principle of orientation is not confined or restricted to orienting ball and socket beads, but may be employed for orienting other shapes of elements having unequal weight distribution, that is, so long as the elements are heavier at one end than at the other. As the result of vibration and sliding of such elements by the roughened marks, all elements facing the wrong way, that is with their heavy side forward, will be turned l80, Whereas elements facing the right Way, that is with their light end forward, will continue to move in the same direction.

Therefore, after the beads of the ball and socket type, previously referred to, have passed the roughened marks 13 and the opening 2a so as to discharge broken particles, they will all be oriented, that is their concave ends will all face downwardly, so that the beads may be discharged from the bottom end of the chute with correct orientation and may be strung on a wire or cord to form a package unit or may be slid into a cardboard tube, such as 15, in Figure 5, containing a longitudinally extending string 16 which is positioned between the tube and beads and projects slightly beyond the ends of the tube, so that when it is desired to remove the beads from the tube, such as after the packaged beads are slid onto an electrical conductor to be insulated by the beads, the string is pulled so as to cut open the tube longitudinally and enable it to be removed from the beads. While a cord or wire extending through the bores of the heads is not needed in the package unit shown in Figure 5, in some instances it may be used.

A modification of the invention is shown in Figure 6 wherein instead of scored lines for rotating, about a transverse axis, beads which do not face in the right direction, there is employed, instead, an air jet or nozzle 21 for this purpose. At a point about 2" beyond the discharge outlet 11) of the parts feeder l the air jet or nozzle 21 may be angularly mounted and its mounting may be adjustable to provide an adjustable angle with respect to the bead bore axis. The angle of the air nozzle is preferably about 15 off the bead bore long axis and inclined downwardly about 30 with respect to a horizontal plane extending through the bead bore long axis.

The nozzle 21 has an orifice sized for the particular size bead being handled and the air stream is regulated by a diaphragm regulator similar to but more sensitive than regulators used in gas welding. For small beads, such a small orifice is required that bottled carbon dioxide may be used to insure a constant even flow of air. Compressed air using commonly known water and dust traps can cause a slight deflection of the air stream due to foreign matter in the orifice, which prevents proper functioning of the equipment.

The air stream should strike the bead at a point 22 beyond the bead bore and above the axis, within the to angular range.

Care must be exercised in adjusting the ejection rate of the Syntron parts feeder to provide at least A1" separation between the small beads at the point of the air stream otherwise the proper orienting action will not be obtained.

As the beads come from the parts feeder, according to the law of averages about half will have their rounded end first and the other half will have their concave or cup shaped end first. When a bead with the rounded end first encounters the air jet or stream, the shape of the bead will deflect the air and the bead will remain in the same position and continue to move down the chute by gravity. However, when a bead, with its cup shape end first, meets the air stream, the cup traps the air stream and the bead is spun about an angle of 180 while sliding on the horizontal flange of chute 2, until finally the convex shaped end becomes the leading end as the bead continues its travel down the incline. In this manner all the beads are oriented so that all the convex ends will face downwardly of the incline in the same direction. From this incline the beads may enter a glass tube or perhaps a cardboard tube 15 and packaged as shown in Figure 5 as described above.

The air streams may be sufficiently strong so as to blow off the chute beads with leading concave ends. Such beads may be collected underneath the chute and returned to the parts feeder.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an efiicient package unit and method of packaging, which is especially suitable for packaging ceramic beads of the ball and socket type in oriented condition, although it will be understood that the invention is equally applicable for packaging other objects in oriented condition, particularly objects having end portions which become seated when the objects are aligned, or even objects which do not become seated; furthermore I have provided an efficient, quick and relatively inexpensive package unit and method of packaging which eliminates time consuming operations normally required in well known or conventional packaging operations; furthermore I have provided a novel package unit for ceramic beads and the like, whereby the beads may be mounted on an electrical conductor even before the package is fully opened, which opening can be elfected by the mere pull of a string, thereby greatly simplifying also installation of insulating beads on an electrical conductor.

While I have illustrated and described several specific embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that these are by Way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

A bead package unit consisting of a plurality of ceramic beads of tubular shape, each having a convex end and a concave end, the beads being arranged in end-toend nesting relationship with the concave end of one bead forming a seat for the convex end of an adjoining bead, a tube of easily tearable material snugly surrounding said beads while in said nesting relationship, said tube being open at both ends and a string extending longitudinally along the entire length of said tube between said beads and the inner wall of said tube, both ends of said string projecting a substantial distance beyond the ends of said tube whereby the beads may be strung onto an electrical Wire and by pulling the ends of said string the tube may be torn longitudinally to efiect its removal from the beads while so strung.

References Cited in the file of this patent 

